Getting past the electronic divide

MARLBORO — Julia E. Murren has multiple résumés to aid her search for work as an administrative assistant, a job hunt she's been at for about a year.

The Marlboro woman ignores job listings more than 20 days old, believing those employers are already inundated with applications, and she fills out online applications for jobs even though the questions cover information already listed on the résumés she submits.

"It is frustrating," Ms. Murren said of her search. "But I just kind of have to do it."

Such are the tactics of the modern job search, an electronic process that can leave employers snowed under with applications and job seekers baffled about whether any human being actually viewed their submissions.

It's an ironic situation: Advertising job openings online allows employers to cast a wide net for potential hires, but the volume of responses requires many to screen the responses with computer software rather than the practiced eye of a hiring manager. Job seekers can search broadly for job openings online but often end up trying to outwit the screening software by drafting résumés with specific words and hunting for ways to directly contact hiring managers.

Add to that the nation's job-killing recession of 2007-09 and subsequent slow economic recovery, and the result is a challenge for both employers and job seekers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates 672,000 jobs were open during June in the Northeast United States, a region that consists of New England plus New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. During the same period, the BLS estimated those states were home to about 2.2 million unemployed workers.

Employers have the upper hand, said Greater Gardner Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive James Bellina, who has seen both sides of the employment scene as a consultant to recruiters and now as a sounding board for job hunters who meet weekly at the chamber to network.

"It's a simple case of a lot more people looking for work than jobs available," Mr. Bellina said. "To deal with that inundation, whether they (employers) want to do it or not, they're going to screen."

For employers, filling a job can go something like this: Write a description of the job, including the qualifications applicants must possess; advertise the opening, probably through major websites such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com; collect applications and use application tracking software to screen them; generate a small number of candidates and begin interviewing them. Sometimes an outside firm will handle much of the process for an employer.

Workers who lack computer skills can struggle with that electronic process, said Michael L. Beaudry, project manager at Workforce Central Career Center in Worcester, an employment services agency operated by the city and state. Some online application forms also are flawed, give applicants limited time to fill out material and ask applicants to complete lengthy quizzes, he said.

"We've seen this problem getting larger and larger in the past several years," Mr. Beaudry said. "These online applications are (meant) to exclude people."

Job seekers who fail to change their résumés for different applications can also lose out.

"It is kind of crazy," said Kathleen Manning, dean of the Quinsigamond Community College Training and Education Center in Worcester. "I do think there are a lot of viable candidates out there that get weeded out."

Job seekers are right to feel frustrated when they take time to put together a résumé or application and then hear nothing back from an employer, said Arnie Fertig, a blogger for U.S. News & World Report and a recruiting and job hunting coach at jobhuntercoach.com. Yet they also must find ways past employers' electronic roadblocks, he said, and that means networking.

"You use the form application process when you must, but only when you must," Mr. Fertig said. "Where you want to access the company is not human resources. You want to access the people that have the authority to do the hiring."

Russell H. Vanderbaan, human resources manager for metal-mill manufacturer Siemens Corp. in Worcester, acknowledges that many people wonder why companies cannot respond to all applicants, but he said replying to 200 or 300 applicants for a single job is a daunting task. Siemens does not reply to all applicants, he said, but it does reply to all who interview with the company.

He also encourages job seekers to look for contacts at the companies where they want to work. After recently advertising for a human resources employee and receiving 70 applications, Mr. Vanderbaan said, he heard from a Siemens employee about a former Nypro Inc. worker looking for a job. Mr. Vanderbaan searched for the person's application in the application tracking system used by Siemens and ultimately hired the worker.

"Employee referrals have always been one of our best sources of hiring new people," Mr. Vanderbaan said. "I think it's still one of the best ways to do it."

On a warm evening last week, 20 job seekers trickled into a science classroom at Marlboro High School and settled into chairs. Some were jobless. Others were still working but looking for something new.

Workforce development expert Amy R. Mosher, there to teach the group résumé-writing and job-interviewing skills, launched her session with a pep talk.

"You need to believe you're one of the ones they're (employers) looking for," she said as ceiling fans twirled overhead and job seekers took notes. In the front row sat Ms. Murren, the Marlboro woman in search of an administrative assistant job.

When it comes to résumés, Ms. Mosher told the group, do submit a résumé that includes three to five key words related to a job posting but don't copy a job description and paste it into a résumé.

To pierce the electronic curtain shielding employers from applicants, attend two to three networking events every month, she said.

"Finding a job is work," Ms. Mosher told the group. "We know that. So you have to work."